Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler pitches the ball to rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal during Monday night's season opener against the Raiders. Royal, a second-round draft pick from Virginia Tech, contributed nine receptions for 146 yards to the Broncos' 41-14 victory.

Denver Broncos Eddie Royal drags his feet in bounds as he catches a pass in the endzone for a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders Monday, September 8, 2008 at McAffee Coliseum in Oakland. ( John Leyba/The Denver Post

Eddie Royal excited the Broncos and incited the Raiders with an amazing debut Monday night.

“I was given a lot of opportunities and tried to make the most of them,” Royal said. His mate at wide receiver, Darrell Jackson was very flattering. “Every time Eddie touched the football, he made something happen. His picture belonged on the horse trailer (as game MVP).”

Brandon who?

Bluntly, the Broncos have discovered a complement to Brandon Marshall in the royal rookie.

With Royal scoring first and the Broncos scoring often in the first half, the Raiders were disgraced, and the Broncos were happy as they could be.

Guess who’s first in the AFC West after a compelling 41-14 triumph over Oakland? It was Denver’s most convincing road opener since a 30-10 victory in Cincinnati in 2003, and Oakland, the self-proclaimed “Team of the Decades,” had its worst home opener in decades. And Royal was a major factor, starting in place of the suspended Marshall.

The 5-foot-10, 182-pound Royal was considered too short to be a premier receiver in the NFL.

So was Rick Upchurch, 5-10 and 175 pounds. In his first professional game for the Broncos in 1975, against Kansas City, Upchurch finished with 284 all-purpose yards (three receptions for 153, one rush for 13, one punt return for 30, three kickoff returns for 88).

In the most impressive rookie wide receiver/returner/rusher performance since then, the award goes to: Eddie Royal. He had nine receptions for 146 yards, including a 26- yard touchdown catch on Denver’s first drive. Royal would have scored again in the first half, except somebody was lined up too far off the line of scrimmage.

Whoops, that was Royal. He didn’t make many rookie mistakes, though. He’s certainly more seasoned than a couple of wide receivers on the Raiders’ roster. Javon Walker, dumped by the Broncos in the offseason, didn’t play because of an injury, and Ashley Lelie, dumped by the Broncos after the 2005 season, had a couple of receptions and came up with a late catch in the end zone.

Royal also had two rushes for 9 yards and three returns (two punt, one kickoff) for 30 yards.

He didn’t beat Upchurch — although he beat DeAngelo Hall all night — but Royal totaled 185 yards as a triple threat. He even threw a pass (smartly out of bounds), but didn’t have to carry the equipment bag back from California.

The rookie has arrived.

He got Hall so flustered and agitated, the free-agent cornerback, late of Atlanta, was called for unnecessary roughness on one completion and a helmet spear in Royal’s back shortly after. Tack on another 19 yards with the two penalties (one was assessed half the distance to the goal line), and Royal was responsible for more than 200 in a game that became boring to a national TV audience but not to the one in Denver.

No wide receivers were drafted in the first round this year. Ten were picked in the second round. Royal was the fifth.

Many scouts in the NFL and some people in Denver questioned the Broncos for taking Royal over DeSean Jackson, who went to Philadelphia six selections later.

And scouts and skeptics were still wondering after Jackson, in his own debut Sunday, finished with eight catches for 97 yards and six returns for 106 yards.

The Broncos’ rookie receiver replied to Jackson’s aces with a straight flush. All in.

It should be fun to compare the two all season. The other eight second-rounders were of little or no help in Sunday’s and Monday’s games.

The absence of Marshall was deemed to be the Broncos’ serious weakness for the first game. He was Jay Cutler’s most dependable receiver last season, and they continued to be best of friends this preseason.

What would Cutler do without Marshall? None of the free-agent wide receivers the Broncos signed had become established in Denver. (One, Darrell Jackson, did end up with one reception for 48 yards Monday.) So Royal, who had been outstanding in training camp and seemingly comfortable outside instead of in the slot and familiar with the Mike Shanahan system, was the man the Broncos would have to turn to.

On the team’s first play, Royal did the old end-around for only 2 yards. But on the next play Cutler threw to him for 16, and a play later, he ran again for 7. On second-and-6 at the Oakland 26, Cutler’s toss to Royal was off, but Cutler passed to Royal on the very next play for the 26-yard score.

The kid was off to the races, off to a special start with the Broncos.

“ER,” the TV show, may own Thursday nights, but E.R., the rookie receiver, possessed Monday night. He was anything but Monday night raw.

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